As a superior court research attorney who has the pleasure and privilege of occasionally working on assignments for our presiding judge, I am particularly pleased to be able to feature Richard K. Park as our judge of the year. His wit and wisdom are well reflected in Charity Kenyon's interesting article. As you mostly all know, and as the article reflects, the award is extremely well deserved. Park is truly an outstanding, hard-working judge.

In this bench/bar issue we try to feature attorneys who are prominent in local bar activities. One of the most important components of SCBA is the sections. It seemed to me that recognizing our section leaders is way overdue. Hopefully the article about section liaison Deborah Patterson is just the beginning and that we shall be able to feature more section chairs in future editions.

We also see the start of what I hope will become a tradition - recognition of your hard working and often largely unknown elected council members at large. Four members at large are elected each year for three-year terms. They all attend monthly bar council meetings and serve on a plethora of committees. One of the four is generally elected at the end of his or her term as secretary-treasurer. With this in mind, we thought that this would be a good time to re-introduce our third-year class. Hence we have articles about W Stuart Home, Joanna Mendoza, Patricia Tsubokawa Reeves and Noreen Skelly. I am sure that you will all agree that my ploy of having friends and colleagues write the articles paid off. We have insightful and personal stories that we can all enjoy.

Grateful thanks go to Karen Jacobsen of Jacobsen & McElroy, Ruthe Ashley of Reeves & Ashley LLP, Ken Malovos of Livingston & Mattesich, and Jennifer Brown Shaw of Jackson, Lewis, Schnitzler & Krupman.

This month we feature a number of great events. In particular, we draw your attention to the fiftieth anniversary event for outstanding bar leader Douglas R. Greer. It is a great honor to feature him in this edition. He is a true inspiration.

We are also fortunate to have lots of great photos from great events. As always Sacramento Lawyer is indebted to Sirlin Photographers for our high quality cover photo. This month, we also want to thank Ken Rabiroff for his excellent photos of the Law Day breakfast.

One of the joys of Law Day is the fact that we honor wonderful people and programs. This year's theme was "Celebrate Your Freedom-Protecting the Best Interests of Our Children so it is particularly appropriate that we recognize Liberty Bell awardee John Barris and the wonderful Peer Court program founded by Judge James I. Morris. It is clear that Barris and this extremely successful program truly are engaged in protecting the best interests of our children.

As always this issue has a strong emphasis on community service. We are delighted to welcome our own Vicki Jacobs as the new managing attorney at VLSP. VLSP has gone from strength to strength under the leadership of Ellen Juarez. It will surely continue in the same direction with Vicki at the helm and Ellen and staff there in full support. We also love that we can share Angel Sevilla's drive and enthusiasm for the very successful Volunteers in Parole program. Mentors and mentees alike exude joy in the program.

Last but by no means least, we hope that you enjoy Karen Goodman's insightful ethics articles that are rapidly becoming a regular feature. It behooves all of us to remind ourselves from time to time of our ethical obligations.

As always we aim to please. Let us have your suggestions and comments. We love to hear from you. Don't forget to visit us on-line at www.sacbar.org.